A MEMS Based Drug Delivery Device with Integrated Micro-Needle Array - Design and Simulation

One of the most effective treatments for type 1 and 2 diabetes is the administration of Insulin. Single needle mechanical insulin pumps are heavy and painful. Micro-needle based MEMS drug delivery devices can be an excellent solution for insulin dosing. The use of Micro-Needle Array provides a safe, painless and robust injection application. A stackable structure results in minimum dimensions and the final product can be in the form of a patch that can be applied to any flat area of human skin. The design of positive volumetric insulin pump is a multi-physics problem where the volumetric changes of the main pump chamber and the pumped fluid are directly coupled. We used a multiphysics simulation platform to investigate the performance of a MEMS based Insulin Micro-Pump driven by a piezoelectric actuator which acts on a diaphragm. The positive and negative movement of the diaphragm results in generation of a discharge pressure at the microneedle array. The pressure and flow rate is controlled by varying the excitation voltage and frequency applied to the actuator. The model was used to evaluate the performance of the Micro-Pump. It was found to be capable of generating the required interfacial pressures at the human skin to deliver the target dosage by matching the minimum and maximum range of diabetic patients' operating parameters.